Parent’s Guide to Teen Depression. You must remember your time as a teen – all those difficult decisions to make, peer pressure, talking to that girl you liked, puberty, and so on. Teenage is a difficult stage of life as children start questioning who they are and who they want to be. One day they want to be a scientist, the other day it’s a rock guitarist, an artist the next.

Their behavior gets so hectic that it gets difficult to track whether the sudden change in behavior is normal or signs of depression. An average of 2.9% of adolescents (aged 12 to 17) suffer from depression in the US. This number increases considerably above the 18-year mark.

So how can you know whether your teen is depressed or not, and what should you do if he/she is?

How Do I Know If My Teen Is Depressed?

Indecisiveness, rebelliousness or frequent bad-mood spells don’t constitute as depression in teens. To find out if you should take depression-oriented steps or not, you must know what the indicators of a depressed teen are. The difficulty in understanding teenage depression for parents lies in the fact it is a lot different from adult depression.

• Agitation and irritability
• Drug abuse
• Fatigue
• Forgetfulness
• Hopelessness
• Hostility and violence
• Inability to focus
• Lack of energy
• Lack of enthusiasm
• Loss of interest
• Low self-esteem
• A major change in eating and sleeping habits
• Problems at school (such as a drop in grades, frustrations, inability to concentrate)
• Short attention span
• Thinking and talking about death or suicide
• Withdrawal from friends and family

While it is common for teenagers to distance themselves from their family, one of the prime indicators of a depressed teen is that they will distance themselves from friends as well.

How Can I Help My Depressed Teen?

One of the biggest mistakes parents can make is to leave their depressed teen to figure their way out of depression. This not only leaves them feeling isolated, but also furthers their depression, enabling them to take life-threatening steps such as suicide or running away.

While interventions are helpful, they aren’t always the answer either. A depressed teen does not understand why they feel the way they do, and coercing them into talking about their feelings or burdening them with how others around them feel, does the exact opposite of helping.

The best thing that you can do in order to help your teen is open up a dialogue and ask them what the problem is. You’d be surprised at how many people only want someone to talk to! Tell them the signs that you have noticed and how it concerns you, all the while encouraging them to share their feelings. However, make sure you don’t overcrowd them with questions as this will result in them shutting you out.

Some teens feel shy when talking to their parents about intricate details about their life. Perhaps this is because of something they’ve done wrong, such as, drug abuse, or perhaps it is regarding a girl or boy. Whatever the case may be, if you feel that your teenager may be depressed, you shouldn’t hesitate to pitch the idea of seeking professional help.

Teen depression is a dangerous and potentially life-threatening condition that can lead to suicides, especially among teens aged 15-17. If you see any signs of depression in your teen, don’t hesitate to ask for professional help.